An inking roller of the above type is known from German Examined Patent Application DE-AS No. 1 918 987, to which U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,254, KROCHERT, corresponds. In order to remove the contaminant particles found in the ink supply and deposited on the surface of the inking roller, a groove is provided in this known inking roller which extends in the axial direction and takes a spiral course and into which the doctor blade is supposed to scrape the contaminant particles. The interfering particles cannot be removed sufficiently well with this groove, however, because due to the gap conventionally located between the doctor blade and the surface of the inking roller, the particles cannot be scraped completely from the surface of the inking roller and deposited into the groove.
A need thus exists for an ink roller so constructed that, despite the required gap between the ink roller surface and the doctor blade, it is possible to remove the contaminant particles collecting in the vicinity of the gap.